The Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg is investing $1 million to address health disparities in South St. Petersburg.

The funding comes as a direct response to a recent health equity profile study conducted by the foundation, which revealed stark contrasts in health outcomes between South St. Pete and the broader Pinellas County. Dr. Kanika Tomalin, President and CEO of the Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg, emphasized the urgent need for action.

“This grant is in response to a study that highlighted the inequities in health outcomes for our community,” she stated. The study reported alarming statistics, including significantly higher rates of deaths from violent crime and drug poisoning, as well as chronic diseases, in South St. Petersburg compared to the county averages.

A job training program for people who want to start a career in “weatherization” has launched in Essex County.

The Urban League of Essex County or ULEC (Newark, NJ) and net.America recently announced the expansion of their partnership to support the U.S. Department of Labor's initiative to broaden access to registered apprenticeship programs (RAPs).

The partnership aims to create equitable opportunities for ULEC clients and surrounding communities across high-demand industries, including cybersecurity, health IT, health care and energy. At least 50 percent of the program participants will come from underrepresented and underserved communities, according to the nonprofit.

In March, the ULEC launched a “weatherization” technician program for people who want to start a career in the industry.

The City of Greenville is honoring the founder and first president of the Urban League of the Upstate (Greenville, SC) with a new street name.

Senator Theo Mitchell is an attorney and former lawmaker who established the Greenville chapter of the National Urban League in 1972. The community-based program supports strong and stable communities while advocating for economic equality for African Americans.

Mitchell served five terms in the S.C. House of Representatives before he was elected to the Senate. He was also the Democratic nominee for Governor in 1990.

During his time in the Statehouse, he spearheaded legislation to improve the state’s education system and offer homestead exemptions for the elderly.

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Marc H. Morial 
President and CEO
National Urban League

“The freedom to learn is the freedom to live. We cannot survive our current political moment or unlock the promise of our future without the tools to understand and make sense of our past.  And that’s precisely why those opposing democracy and equality are trying to take away our books, our concepts, and our knowledge. Ignorance about our past is the Achilles heel of democracy. And we can’t save this democracy without confronting its weakest link. That’s why we have to fight for the freedom to learn.” — Kimberlee Crenshaw

When the deadly COVID-19 pandemic began sweeping across the United States in 2020, President Donald Trump infamously made the mind-boggling assertion, “If we stop testing right now, we’d have very few cases, if any.” 

NEW YORK (April 25, 2025) — National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial issued the following statement regarding the death of Alexis Herman, Senior Vice Chair of the National Urban League's Board of Trustees and former U.S. Secretary of Labor:

“The entire Urban League family is grieving the loss of a gifted public servant, esteemed colleague, and cherished friend.

“A lifelong champion for working Americans and underserved communities, she blazed a trail for women of color as he youngest director of the Labor Department’s Women’s Bureau in history and the first Black Labor Secretary.  She led the effort to institute a global child labor standard; moved people from welfare to work with dignity; and launched the most aggressive unemployed youth initiative since the 1970’s. She presided over a period of record-low unemployment and successfully advocated for a pivotal hike in the federal minimum wage.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights has launched “The Pact: A Civil Rights Coalition Unity Commitment,” a declaration of mutual support among dozens of major nonprofit organizations representing millions of people nationwide. 

NEW YORK (April 2, 2025) — As Sen. Cory Booker's record-breaking denunciation of the Trump administration concluded in its second day,  the National Urban League offered enthusiastic support for his amplification of the voices of Americans who are being harmed by its extremist agenda.

"Senator Booker speaks for the American families who fear the loss of access to affordable healthcare, for marginalized communities whose protection from discrimination and violence is being stripped away, for law-abiding immigrants who face deportation, imprisonment, and persecution," National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial said. "He speaks for the millions of Americans who are asking, as he asked on the Senate floor, how much more can we endure before we say enough is enough?"

Gov. Andy Beshear has replaced two members of the University of Louisville Board of Trustees, including former Chair Diane Medley.

In a stunning act of political retribution and ideological extremism, the Trump campaign and its allies have launched a crusade to dismantle the Department of Education. The attacks are not just symbolic — they are existential. Executive orders, lawsuits and budgetary sabotage aim to gut the department’s authority, revoke billions in funding and leave America’s students — especially our most vulnerable — without the federal oversight and protection they deserve.